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If your ability to meet admission criteria has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly related to pass/fail grades and official transcript submission, please contact our enrollment counselor to learn about your options.
Applicants will be considered for acceptance with satisfactory completion of the following requirements.
- CASPA Application
- Complete the full CASPA application including program specific questions.
- Personal Statement
- The personal statement is a brief statement expressing why you are interested in becoming a - Physician Assistant (submitted in CASPA).
- Letters of Recommendation
- Minimum of three (submitted in CASPA).
- One letter should be from a physician assistant.
- Other letters can be from another healthcare professional (physician, dentist, pharmacist, registered nurse, nurse practitioner, physical or occupational therapist, and/or from a mentor.
- Please note recommendations submitted by relatives, friends, personal healthcare providers, or personal friends of the family are not acceptable.
- Baccalaureate Degree
- Degree must be obtained from an institutionally accredited institution, or internationally recognized equivalent.
- Applicants can apply while still earning baccalaureate degree. However, the degree must be conferred before matriculation into the PA program.
- Accepted students must submit official transcripts to Palm Beach Atlantic University before matriculation into the PA program.
- Any candidate who completed coursework outside of the United States must submit a transcript evaluation from an approved service such as World Education Services (WES), International Credential Evaluations (InCred), or ECE.
- Official College Transcripts
- All official college transcripts must be submitted to and verified by CASPA. Accepted students must submit official transcripts to Palm Beach Atlantic University before matriculation into the PA program.
- GPA Requirements
- Must have a minimum baccalaureate GPA of 3.0 and prerequisite GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale as calculated by CASPA.
- Visit the CASPA website to learn more about the calculation of GPAs.
- Prerequisite Coursework
- Must be completed with a C (2.0) or better from an institutionally accredited United States institution.
- Specific prerequisite courses must have been completed within 7 years of application.
- Applications with no more than two outstanding prerequisite courses will be reviewed and considered for interview. All prerequisite courses must be completed before beginning the MMScPA program.
- A single course cannot be used to satisfy multiple prerequisites.
- Coursework cannot be completed online if it requires a lab component.
- Required Prerequisite Courses include:
- General Biology and Lab – 4 semester hours
- Human Anatomy & Physiology I and II (Human Anatomy & Human Physiology including labs) – 8 semester hours.
- General Chemistry (I & II) including lab – 8 semester hours.
- Organic Chemistry I including lab – 4 semester hours.
- Microbiology including lab – 4 semester hours.
- Psychology – 3 semester hours
- Prerequisites courses that MUST have been completed within 7 years of application include: Human Anatomy & Physiology I and II, Organic Chemistry I and lab, and Microbiology and lab.
- For the 2024-2025 application cycle, these specific courses taken during the summer of 2018 or later would meet the 7-year requirement.
- AP coursework will only be accepted for the Psychology prerequisite. Any AP credits for other prerequisite courses must appear on a college transcript with assigned grade and credits.
- No survey courses permitted for prerequisites.
- Direct Patient Care (patient care experience)
- A minimum of 500 Hours of Direct Patient Care/Patient Care Experience must be completed by the start of the program.
- Paid or volunteer accepted.
- Experience should involve direct responsibility for a patient’s care and can include but is not limited to performing vital signs, obtaining a medical history, performing physical assessments or procedures, medical documentation, directing a course of treatment, prescribing or providing medication, etc.
- Other allied health experience such as medical assistant (MA), certified nursing assistant (CNA), patient care technician (PCT), phlebotomist, pharmacy technician (PhT), emergency medical technician (EMT), athletic trainer (AT), behavioral health technician (BHT) and other health professionals like RN, CRT, MD, or CLT accepted.
- Medical scribe hours may account for half of direct patient care hours.
- GRE (PBA Code 5553)
- Must be completed by the time of application.
- GRE scores must have been taken within the last 5 years of application.
- Multiple GRE scores will be super scored (best score for each section used).
- No minimum score is required, however, a score of 150 in quantitative and verbal, and an analytical score of 3.5 is considered competitive.
- Language Requirement
- Palm Beach Atlantic University PA program requires a TOEFL score to demonstrate English proficiency of all non-native English language speaking and/or international applicants unless the applicant has attended high school and earned a degree from an accredited University in any country whose sole national language is English. A minimum TOEFL score of 100 is required for admission to the PA program.
- PA-CAT and Casper assessment are NOT required currently.
Special Consideration (A3.13a)
We give special consideration to the applicants with the following provided they meet the competitive admission requirements for the program:
- Military service
- Long-term mission work (ex. Peace Corp, extended living in foreign country)
- Medical mission trip
- PBA graduate
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